Nominations are now open for the Dobzhansky Prize, which recognizes the accomplishments and future promise of an outstanding early-career evolutionary biologist. The award includes $5000 and an award talk at the in-person Evolution meeting. Deadline: December 1.
shorturl.at/p70wY
I don't need AI to read PDFs for me- I like reading papers.
I apparently do need an AI bot to make the Uni admin Outlook calendar system, my phone and tablet's google calendar, and the built in calendar for my email client (Thunderbird) actually talk to each other.
Why is this so stupidly hard?
Our manuscript is now available in Evolution Letters @evolletters.bsky.social ! We examine the three neo-Ys in mountain pine beetle which are suspected to be contributing to cryptic species diversity. doi.org/10.1093/evle...
Monash University is offering a fully-funded PhD scholarship to an outstanding student in animal behaviour/evolutionary ecology. Choose from eight project areas. For information about what project I'm offering, please DM me or see application form: forms.gle/ia9t4KPD3FKT.... Deadline: 15 Nov.
My department at University of Utah is recruiting new faculty, with "Human" and "Genetics" broadly defined. It is a fantastic place to start a lab, with collaboration, creativity and conviviality encouraged. Applications due Oct 16. Please share and apply!
utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/208...
With fieldwork, I didn't get to advertise our (not so now) new paper on the quantitative genetics of growth in the 🦎 in @journal-evo.bsky.social:
dx.doi.org/10.1093/evol...
It's an exciting paper paper in which we disentangle what it means to treat the whole growth curve as a function-valued trait!
Application deadline for this is approaching fast. Email me if you are interested in doing a 2-year postdoc in a project to study the reproductive system and population genomics of an European buzz pollinated plant. To be clear: this is to participate as a named postdoc in a grant application.
I am looking for potential candidates interested in applying for an external postdoctoral fellowship in my lab at Uppsala University. If you want to work on buzz pollination please get in touch. Reach me by email. More about our current work here: plant-evolution.org/wp/
Okay this jogged loose something I've had half-written for a while now: Despite decades of effort, scientists have still not found a substitute for reading the paper
denimandtweed.jbyoder.org/2026/09/desp...
Sincere question, @trevorabranch.bsky.social :
how do these spawning stock biomass estimates compare to estimates from the 1960s, or even earlier?
This recovery is great, and clearly better than not recovering... but is this also a case of shifting baselines?
This is seismic news for fisheries scientists. Northern cod is *the* iconic symbol of total fisheries collapse due to overfishing (and other factors) *and* the iconic symbol of a complete failure to recover for decades afterwards. This is like announcing the complete recovery of bison on land.
We have published a new pre-print showing a decline in great tit adult and nestling mass of around 1 gram in 47 y. [rate of approx. -0.040 Hadanes] With @ellafcole.bsky.social, @devisatarkar.bsky.social, Sam. Crofts, @mcmahok.bsky.social & @sheldonbirds.bsky.socialwww.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
I'm excited to release the newest version of my free applied biostats textbook. It's tidyverse style, clarkia inspired and loads of fun
Im putting this down until the end of the semester, when I'll add and polish additional chapters, but the 1st 21 are pretty solid
yanivjb.github.io/biostats-book
This is a "least bad" outcome of a self-inflicted problem from Duke University. Is it better than the collection being atomized and shipped all over the place? Yes.
Is it a travesty that one of the world's wealthiest private Universities divested from their herbarium? Definitely yes.
This is an institution with a > $12B endowment, that spends $180M annually on athletics.
The top 54 salaried administrators, coaches, executives make ~ $33M annually.
Dismantling a research archive and selling it as "at least we didn't destroy it" is the very much moving the goalposts.
We will be hosting DC Area research talks on Evolutionary Genetics at GW starting this Fall. First Tuesday of the Month at 3pm, Science and Engineering Hall.
Co-founded with Manus Patten at Georgetown University. Please help spread the word.
UCD is one of the top universities globally in both evolutionary biology and plant sciences. The department is a gem full of great folks. It's hard to imagine a better place to do plant evolution! Position opens Aug. 17. Please spread the word! eve.ucdavis.edu/people?page=1
I am excited to announce a job for an Asst Prof in Plant Evolution in the dept. of Evolution and Ecology at @ucdavis.bsky.social. We're looking broadly, from macro (speciation, comparative genomics, evo-devo) to micro (pop biology, adaptive evolution, evo-eco). recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07777
Avocados come in 2 varieties - A-types start each day female and switch to male midday. B-types do the reverse. In work just published from the last chapter of my PhD, we show this system evolved 40+million yrs ago and is regulated by alleles of 1 transcription factor
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Everyone says AI will accelerate science. I don't think it will -- at least not in biology, and at least not soon.
New post where I explain why, and how the productivity paradox can be resolved:
blekhman.substack.com/p/why-ai-wil...
Got a well intentioned email that ended with “I work at odd hours. My working hours are not necessarily your working hours. Please respond when you feel you comfortably can.”
Obviously that’s code for they don’t expect a response from me. Ever.
Balogun, Sztepanacz & Ness investigate the evolutionary forces that shape the transcriptome in 24 wild strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, finding that gene expression displays moderate heritability.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag142#societyjournal#algae#evolution
This fall I'm thrilled to be joining UMass Amherst (@umassamherst.bsky.social) as an assistant prof. My lab will study photosynthetic evolution, diversity & resilience, focusing on C4 photosynthesis, one of the most remarkably convergent traits in the biosphere. #PlantScience#Evolution#NewPI
SSB Prez Tracy Heath announcing awards!
2026 Ernst Mayr Award goes to Dr. Rowan French for the talk Function and macroevolution of exaggerated male antennae in longhorned beetles
Watch the Mayr talks from virtual #evol2026 on YouTube: youtu.be/QMiKMC9ctjw?...
Interested in gene family evolution, mutualism, & gene expression ? Check out this talk by post-doc @damianmicroeco.bsky.social with @meafkhami.bsky.social
Connections between gene family expansion and context-dependent expression in mutualism!
Wed, 6/24, 4:15-4:30, Room 25B.
#Evol2026.
#Evol2026
I’m launching a new research group at UNC Charlotte in January 2027.
Prospective students, postdocs, and collaborators are welcome to get in touch: jacob.berv@charlotte.edu
More at jakeberv.com, lab website coming soon.
The amazing Amanda Peake is presenting this work at #Evol2026. Go check it out, where she boils down several years of work into 15 minutes!
Ecological Genetics II, 4:30 - 4:45, Room 24, Monday 6/22/2026.
Why are leaves the shape that they are? What controls intraspecific, genetic variation in leaf shape?
New from my lab, in collaboration with many others, led by PhD student Amanda Peake: mapping the leaf shape polymorphism in Ipomoea hederacea.
"I know there's a lot of concern about the proliferation of journals, slop in the in the literature — the best way to combat this is to publish in society-owned journals." — @asn-amnat.bsky.social President @beckyfuller82.bsky.social preaching the Gospel #Evol2026